Boldness is the main theme of this issue. We at Aalto EE want to fearlessly renew ourselves
and offer new, bold forms of leadership training. This has meant asking ourselves how daring
we want to be and how “bold” we believe that our products and operating methods can be.
The courage to develop new things and create new forms of leadership training is
based on the values of Aalto University, as well as the wish to be bold, promote change
and further increase international operations. Experimentation, innovation and creativity
are keywords in this respect. The world around us is changing so rapidly that we
must continuously create new ways to operate in order to implement our vision and make
good use of experimentation and creativity.
In our own operations, renewal also builds on passion and enthusiasm
Aalto EE’s Facebook page
– it is impossible to create brave and new approaches without skilled
and our blog keep you
and inspired people. We also understand that bold operating methods
up to date on the latest
require our customers to be brave and believe that answers to challenges
happenings. Check out
can be found through non-traditional approaches.
aaltoee.blogspot.com and,
Passion as a word has been rather uncommon in the world of
of course, www.aaltoee.fi
leadership, but is today found, for example, in the concept of “Leadership
and www.aaltoee.sg.
and Passion.” Passion is required of those who develop new coaching
products and solutions or participate in coaching, as well as from
us as an organization. It is easier to be bold if you are passionate about achieving something.
Researchers have noticed that passionate people do work that inspires them and know
how to make their lives exciting and significant, mirroring their own nature. Risk-taking and
courage are an essential part of a passionate life. Passionate individuals constantly learn,
renew themselves and explore new things. Passion means that we
continue to boost our belief in our ability to achieve the objectives we set
ourselves. Passion also makes the world a better place to live and operate
in. What this means is that passion is essential to us as training providers,
as well as to our customers, whether individuals or organizations.
Our operations have come under great expectations due to the
changes and opportunities brought about by the new Aalto University.
Passion is what helps us meet these high expectations.
As Zelda Fitzgerald said, “I don’t want to live. I want to love first, and live
incidentally.” This could, perhaps, be freely adapted to our own operations
Minna Hiillos
in the sense that “we prefer not to be pressured into producing results,
Academic Dean
but first want to provide top-class training and live incidentally.”
Aalto EE

Aalto University Executive Education
Ltd (Aalto EE) offers high-quality
executive development services,
supported by the competence of
the new Aalto University.
The company has had a subsidiary
in Singapore since 2000. Aalto EE’s
mission is to build a better world
through better leadership and to
raise a new generation of leaders.
The organization’s strengths lie in its
global operating model and versatile
offering. The new Aalto University has
brought Aalto EE a multidisciplinary
approach to executive development
along with innovative learning
methods. In 2010, the estimated
turnover of Aalto University Executive
Education Ltd is €10 million and
the headcount is some 50.

The whole magazine
is also here:

What have you learned about...

Fear

Explained

Toolbox

Features

Departments

You can also
find us here:

Chaos theory teaches us
not everything is predictable.
This simple idea applies also
to business paradigms.

26
27

Fear

Explained
Listen to your inner voice.
Trust your intuition.

Phobophobia?
a.k.a.

fear of fear
“Phobophobia is a phobia that is defined as the fear of phobias, or the fear
of fear, which includes intense anxiety and unrealistic and persistent fear of
the somatic sensations and the feared phobia ensued. Phobophobia can also be defined
as a fear of developing a phobia. It differentiates itself from other kind of phobias
by the fact that there is no environmental stimulus per se, but rather internal
dreadful sensations similar to psychological symptoms of panic attacks.”

H

Text: Risto pakarinen

ere’s a brain twister: The fear of fear. As if
“Choking is about thinking too much. Panic is about
it’s not enough to be afraid of something,
thinking too little. Choking is about loss of instinct. Panic is
especially since there are a lot of phobias
reversion to instinct. They may look the same, but they
to be afraid of.
are worlds apart,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, the author of
It sounds poetic, though, and like its
Tipping Point, and Blink.
positive-emotion twin cousin, “being in love with being in love,”
it detaches the emotions from the actual stimulus, and takes
Panic means standing still. When a businessperson,
the feeling to meta-levels.
a leader, suffers from the fear of fear, he chokes. His
The most famous use of the expression can be found in
decision-making takes time and he can’t even delegate.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address in the middle of
And then, determined to show the world that he surely is
the Great Depression, on March 4, 1933,
a man of action, he panics.
“instead of trusting
when he said, “let me assert my firm belief
First he can’t act, and then he does
our instincts,
that the only thing we have to fear is fear
too much.
itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
First he doesn’t trust his intuitions,
we start to
terror which paralyzes needed efforts to
and
then he’s too busy acting and doing
second-guess
convert retreat into advance.”
things,
and can’t hear his intuition anymore.
our actions.”
Intuition? Guesswork? Hunches?
Free your senses. The keyword in Roosevelt’s insightful
Gut feelings? Isn’t that ... unprofessional?
and elegant sentence is ‘paralyzes.’ That’s what fear of fear
Even if ‘charisma,’ the word, has its origin in the Greek
does to us. It makes us tentative and self-conscious. It makes word charis (‘grace’) and charizesthai (‘to show favor’), and
us stop and think, and not in the good way. It makes us weak. a belief that a talent has been granted by the divine,
charismatic leaders aren’t simply born with it. And when they’re
Instead of going with the flow, doing things the way we
can, and trusting our instincts, we start to second-guess
trying to make a decision about whether to invest or divest,
our actions. We get nervous and we over-analyze. In sports,
they’re not just throwing darts on a board.
that’s called ‘choking.’
Sure, sometimes it’s a guess – what do we really know
A superstar basketball player misses a free throw with
for sure – but it’s an educated one.
three seconds remaining. A hockey team loses a three-goal
You are the leader that you are, thanks to all your
lead in the third period of a World Championship game. A
experience in business, and all your knowledge of your
swimmer makes a mistake in the final turn of an Olympic final. company and your customers. That, together with your unique
Not because they forget how to play or swim, but because
way of connecting the dots, makes you the leader that you are.
they start to think, which slows them down. They paralyze.
Sometimes you just have to listen to your inner
On the other hand, when a skydiver realizes his parachute voice, and trust your intuition. Close your eyes and just
hasn’t opened, he doesn’t choke. He panics. He forgets every- do it. (Who knew that the old Nike slogan packed so
thing he’s been taught about the situation, starts
much punch into it?)
www.americanrhetoric.com
to do too much, and in the process, just the same, Enticing
Because sometimes you just know. You know?
ideas from history’s
he, too, makes stupid mistakes.
Have no fear.
most pressing words.

4

Text: satu rĂ¤mĂś, lotta vaija Photos: johann hinrichs, Junnu Lusa

What have You learned about

being brave, Monica

De Leon Sanjuan?
Is it necessary in business
life to be brave?Â
Definitely, yes. To achieve something new you have to step
out of your own comfortable zone and take risks. I think
being brave means also being adventurous. Instead of taking
everything for granted, you should believe that there are
new ways of doing things.
If you stay still and do not try to find new areas, somebody else will. However, it is not enough to be just a brave
risk taker. A good manager has an ability to inspire others
and get them committed to the goal. Besides courage, you
also need good communication skills.

Monica De
Leon Sanjuan
works as
a marketing
process owner
and CRM
program manager
at Nokia Siemens
Networks.

When have you needed courage
in your own life? Did it pay off?
I consider myself a brave person. I like to achieve new
things and try my limits, also in a daily life. Being brave
has definitely benefited me, for example, in terms of
many new experiences.
When I came to Finland for the first time in 1995,
I was one of the first exchange students at the Turku
School of Economics. For me, this exchange year was
a great new experience.
Two years ago my work brought me to Munich,
Germany. It is always a challenge to get to know a new
country and culture. It might look easy from the outside, but it takes a lot of effort to get to know your way
around in the organization and in the new environment.
It takes time to get to know new colleagues,
new friends and a new neighborhood. I think courage
has a lot to do with adaptation skills. If you want to
be brave, you have to be flexible, too.

What is the hardest
thing in being brave?
I am not afraid of change or the future. But
sometimes I start to think about the decisions
I have made and wonder whether I make the
right decision. It pays off to be analytical and
consider a while before making a final
decision. It is not good to be too brave and
act fast. You have to be analytical as well.

5

On top of my agenda
Consultant, author and executive
coach Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
runs 20-first, a consultancy
firm that helps organizations to
become gender bilingual. Her new
book HOW Women Mean Business
(Wiley, 2010) tells readers how
they can shift an old corporate
culture into the modern age.

AUDIT. Research has shown
companies that are gender
balanced have a better bottom
line performance. However,
do not rush to change too
quickly. Take the audit step first.
Understand the current situation both internally and externally.
Ensure that there is a good understanding of where a company is
coming from on this issue, what
has been accomplished, and what
lessons are to be learned.

What have You learned about

courage and change,
Teuvo Mets채pelto?
Why does it pay
to be brave at work?

Thirst for...
In 2010 Aalto EE awarded
its twelwth Thirst for
Knowledge Award. The
award was given to the
Office for the Government
as Employer in Finland.

Teuvo
Mets채pelto
is director
general of
the Office for
the Government
as Employer in
Finland.

6

We would rather rely on safe and familiar things than
something new and uncertain. If, however, we want to reach
a new goal, we must tolerate uncertainty. On the other hand,
it is impossible to deal with uncertainty without courage.
The Office for the Government as Employer launched a
reform of its operations four years ago. It involved changing
the thinking and operating models of each and every one of
us. What we did was tackle not the tip, but the submerged
part of the iceberg.
Our organization has a long tradition of people working
on their own. It is, however, more effective to analyze and
solve difficult questions with others, even though we may not
always be aware of this. Our organization bravely tolerated
the uncertainty brought about by the reforms, and we are
now more open than before.

Can a shy person
be brave?

In what kinds of work situations
have you been particularly brave?

Absolutely. A skilled leader can
get the shyest to speak up at
meetings, to participate and get
others to listen to them. Many
shy people can be exceedingly
brave, while very boisterous
individuals may resort to noisy
behavior to hide their insecurity.
Loudness and courage do
not go hand in hand.

I often participate in events where people make professional
speeches. In a panel focused on leadership, I decided to
make a personal speech in which I talked about myself as
a leader and also discussed my shortcomings. I thought my
approach was successful in the sense that other participants
also began to talk about the topic openly and personally.
Another situation that comes to my mind is from the early 1990s. At the time, I held the number two position at the
Office for the Government as Employer and attended labor
market discussions with the then director general. I usually
acted in a reserved and quiet manner at the negotiating table,
but this time my superior encouraged me to take a firmer
stand. Emboldened, I took on a more visible role and we
reached an important result in the negotiations. The approach,
used sparingly, helped to get our message through.

ALIGN AND SUSTAIN. Once the leadership
is convinced of the issue, company personnel are ready to adapt the systemic underpinnings of their organization’s policies and
processes. The alignment phase is about
changing the company’s DNA by embedding
future-oriented processes and systems in
training and talent management as well
as sales, marketing and product development. Finally, companies need to use clear
and effective measures, reward structures,
and communications approaches to maintain,
sustain and celebrate the change process.

AWARENESS. Leaders at
the company must debate and
decide whether gender
balance really matters to their
business, strategy and bottom
line. If not, drop it. If yes,
it requires learning the language and culture of women,
as well as men. Ask the leaders to create an action plan,
that they are accountable for.

What have You learned about

being brave and
creative, Eero Aarnio?
What role does courage
play in the work of a freelance
product designer?
I could cite Aaro Hellaakoski, who said in one of his poems
that walking along the road makes you a prisoner of it,
while freedom can only be found in thick snow. This idea
contains the essence of courage.
Boldness is a characteristic necessary to any freelance
designer. Success comes from doing something new, not
from doing what everyone else is doing. I’ve been a freelancer for nearly 50 years and have always tried to do
things my own way. I’ve worked in many different jobs over
the years: as a graphic designer, photographer and interior decorator. Product design, however, has always been
closest to my heart. A freelancer must be bold, innovative
and tough. What’s important is doing what you enjoy.

How do you deal
with setbacks? How do
you keep up your courage?
Things will always go wrong at work, there’s
nothing you can do about it. It is important to
quickly leave setbacks behind you and change
direction. Do not dwell on negative issues.
I don’t believe that courage as such will
change in the future: if you have an idea you
believe in, go ahead with it. Ideas are my assets.
I also need courage to trust my intuition that an
idea is a good one. The pencil is my computer
– it cannot even run out of power. I plan and
simplify a new idea in my head and then draw it
on paper, usually on a scale of one-to-one.

Eero Aarnio
is a world-famous
Finnish designer
and a pioneer
in using plastic for
industrial design.

Is courage necessary
for a designer?
Designers must believe in their own work.
If you decide to become a freelancer,
you must be willing to take risks, but that
is also more fun with someone else.
I and my wife, Pirkko, make a good team
and have fun together.
Of all my products, the Bubble Chair
best exemplifies the courage needed in my
work. I was close to giving up several times
during the design phase. Pirkko, however,
said that if I didn’t make the product,
someone else would. After many twists and
turns, and the withdrawal of a potential
partner, the Ball Chair was finally displayed
at the 1966 international furniture fair in
Cologne, under the heading “Great Things
are Coming from Finland.” That marked
the beginning of the chair’s success.

aaltoee.blogspot.com
P.S. According to Aarnio, a good
idea is quickly sketched. He had his
latest idea on the way back from
a holiday in Spain. When looking out
of the window at the clouds, Aarnio
came up with a great idea, which,
he says, is accompanied by an
exciting story. It is still too early to
reveal either the idea or the story,
but you can read about them in the
Profile blog a few months from now.
7

Working with

Knowledge
Bold actions require
a willigness to stand out.

To get power,

take some risks

Just like companies need to differentiate themselves, so do individuals.
Powerful people know how to follow their own path.

Power

is an essential part of
leadership. Occupying a highranking position provides
power, of course, while promotions go to those with influence.
Developing and exercising power is essential to getting things
done, particularly accomplishing difficult organizational changes.
Physician leader Laura Esserman was able to transform the breast
care center at the University of California, San Francisco into
a more patient-centered facility only by using political skill to
overcome resistance.
Powerful people live longer. Another reason to seek
power is that it can be monetized – when Bill and Hillary Clinton
left the White House, they faced enormous financial challenges
from the legal costs of the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky
legal proceedings. But in the
next several years, they earned
over $100 million from speaking,
book contracts, and business
relationships – made possible
by their power and connections.
And power can actually lengthen
your life. Research by Sir Michael Marmot, a U.K. physician and
epidemiologist, shows that the amount of control you have over
your job and work – something associated with organizational
rank – predicts your likelihood of avoiding cardiovascular disease.
So it’s no big surprise that many people seek power.
But successfully obtaining power requires getting out of
our comfort zone. When MBAs from leading business schools
think of their first job post-graduation, they tend to follow
the well-trod paths of their predecessors, to consulting firms and
financial services firms. And why not? Those are the places that do
the most on-campus recruiting, pay well, hire the most business
school graduates, and are where the students’ predecessors have
gone. But just as business strategy often implies that companies
need to break from the pack to differentiate themselves, so an
effective personal strategy benefits from charting your own course.
Ross Walker, who was elected to the Stanford Board of Trustees as
its youngest member and is a very successful real estate and
hospitality industry player, with an interest in the Oakland Athletics baseball team, eschewed the normal career path for MBAs.
He offered to work for free in the summer between his first and

“Get over
your fear of
rejection.”

8

second year for a leader in the boutique hotel industry and,
following graduation, pursued a job with Lew Wolff,
a successful developer in Los Angeles who was mostly
unknown to business school students.
Work out of your comfort zone. Many people
are also reluctant to ask for help, as they fear being a burden
on others and seeking help violates norms of self-reliance.
But research by Francis Flynn and Vanessa Lake
demonstrates that others are reluctant to turn down requests
as doing so violates expectations of benevolence. Moreover,
being asked for help is flattering. Consequently, it is useful
to get over fears of rejection and ask for things.
And a third way in which people handicap their quest
for power is by being afraid to stand out. Marketing guru
Keith Ferrazzi acted like a partner even when he was a beginning associate at Deloitte Consulting in the early 1990s,
requesting dinner once a year with the head of the firm as a
condition of taking the job, and pawning off work he didn’t
want to do on interns from leading business schools so he
could do the marketing that would create real value for himself at the firm. Some of these actions made him unpopular
with his peers, but peers are also competitors for promotions.
We live in a competitive world, with fewer middle
management positions and more people seeking them.
Often bold actions – following a different path, asking,
and being willing stand out – are what is required to build
a successful path to power.

Jeffrey Pfeffer is a
professor of organizational
behavior at the Graduate
School of Business,
Stanford University. This
column is based on his
recently-released book,
Power: Why Some People
Have It­and Others Don’t
(HarperBusiness, 2010).

Feature 1
Brave
Leaderhip

Leadership in the age of iGeneration calls for courage.

Onsite interviews: Kari Kulanko, story: Joanna Sinclair

All over the globe leaders are trying out models
for employee empowerment. The goal? To
engage in the ways of the iGeneration, while
simultaneously striving to take on and understand
Generation Y.
The Western way of strong leadership with all eyes on the
bottom line, is still strong. Up until fairly recently, most attempts
at mastering new forms of leadership have been in preparation of
the much talked of ever-so-fickle Generation Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the new hippies,
born 1985 and later.
Alas, along came social media and changed it all. There was talk
of an even younger generation, coined the iGeneration, a name that
allegedly refers to the Internet, but probably makes a certain household brand rather proud. Initially the name referred to children
born after the Cold War ended. But as hundreds of millions of
people started participating in social media, it seemed many baby
boomers, Xâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s found their inner I as well.
9

T

he outcome?
A completely different
working world. As Kris
Girrell, a senior partner
with Camden Consulting
Group describes in CIO Insight: “Today,
the leadership industry hears and sees
a subtler, quieter and more disruptive
revolution happening. It is borne on the
wings of social media and its prophets
are the youngest among us. It may just
re-invent our entire concept of leading and what we, as leadership coaches,
assist our clients in doing. In the wired
world of the iGeneration, leaders don’t
direct – they serve.”
For iGeneration, tried and tested
leadership models are proving less
successful. Leaders have now found
themselves in the midst of the subtle
(r)evolution, learning-while-doing
in the subtle ways of operating in a
iGeneration world, and bravely taking on
the first wave of the Y’s.
Pioneering leaders are tackling
the new situation with a mixed-method
approach. New leadership insight is
sought for from all over the globe.
To make sense of it all, Profile visited
Singapore – and ended up hearing a lot
about India.

W

hat’s new in the
world of leadership?
Singapore. The melting pot of the southeastern regions of our
globe, the hub of new innovation and the
true home of the meaning of global.
It is a natural location for Aalto EE’s
Asian operations. Here, Aalto EE is
educating future visionaries: responsible,
broad-minded experts who can face,
tackle and conquer the multifaceted
problems today’s leaders meet day in
and day out. Aalto EE met up with three
affiliates to track the very latest trends
in leadership: managing director of
Aalto Executive Education Academy
Pte Ltd in Singapore, Dr Jari Talvinen;
Dr. James Dalziel, the head of the
United World College of South East
Asia’s East campus in Singapore, who
also happens to currently be enrolled
in Aalto EE’s Executive MBA program;
and engineer, EMBA Padmanaban
Shivakumar, from Nokia’s South East
Asian operations.
Let us start with the Nokia representative. How would he tackle the
iGeneration?
10

Padmanaban Shivakumar
has been a Nokia
employee for well over
a decade. Working for
the Finnish flagship since
1997, Shivakumar added
to his previous degree in
engineering by acquiring
Aalto EE’s EMBA in 2009.
As director of customer
care, South East Asia,
Shivakumar is currently
leading a diverse
international team
comprising of
48 professionals
from eight different
nationalities.

Generation Y
1980–1990

A

ppropriately, Shivakumar
begins with The Indian
Way, perhaps the hottest
management trend currently on everybody’s lips.
“India went through a rapid business transformation when the government opened the economy in the early
1990s and allowed foreign investments,”
explains Shivakumar. “The foreign
influence, working together with the
local culture, forged the leadership style
into The Indian Way. Here, special
attention is paid to the management of
human resources and innovations,
rather than simply maximizing shareholder value, as often seen in a Western
style of leadership.”
Indian executives are taking pride
in enterprise success, but also in community, prosperity and regional advancement, complimenting the culture and
history of India. “The result is a unique
Indian model of leadership. It is not only
about fixing inefficiencies, but also about
challenging the whole traditional way of
thinking. Companies have invented ways
of delivering their products with extreme
efficiency, such as Tata Nano, the least
expensive car in the world at $3000,
produced by Tata Motors,” Shivakumar
points out.

S

hivakumar’s practical
example summarizes
many of the ideas presented in Wharton School
of Business’ Professors
Cappelli, Singh, Singh and Useem 2010
title The India Way: How India’s Top
Business Leaders are Revolutionizing
Management. As the four academics
explain, the secret of the Indian Way lies
in looking beyond shareholders’ interests
to public mission and national purpose;
drawing on improvisation, adaptation,
and resilience to overcome the constant
hurdles leaders face; identifying products and services of compelling
value to customers – and finally, perhaps
most importantly: investing in talent and
building a stirring culture.
Aalto EE’s Jari Talvinen sees great
value in the Indian Way, yet points

together as the iGeneration
Generation X
1965–1980

Younger Boomers
1955–1964

Older Boomers
1946–1954

Silent
1937–1945

Then what is the iGeneration? A name that has been used to describe either Generations Y or Z, today it is often also used as
a synonym of our times. The iGeneration is not a generation as such, it refers to all generations adapting to a world that has
changed, first because of the internet and mobile phones, and again due to the rise of social media. The generations who live and
breathe the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Angry Birds, these are the iGeneration.

attention to the multitude of emerging
leadership trends. He does not believe in
one given leadership model. Absolutely,
the iGeneration necessitates learning,
but each organization is unique and so
are the challenges leaders face. Why not
mix and match?
“The economic rise of Asia does
not mean the end of Western leadership
models, you can benefit by combining
the best parts of all leadership styles.
A mixture of different leadership styles
can be an advantage, especially in
situations where many different cultures
meet. Social networking, utilizing new
technologies, linking neuroscience
into leadership, globally integrated
enterprises and virtual organizations,”
Talvinen points out.
Perhaps the most topical example
of current, empowering leadership
trends in Singapore is corporate social
responsibility. Given great emphasis in
Aalto EE programs, the trend is inspiring
leaders from both business and nonprofit
organizations. Dr. James Dalziel, head of
the United World College of South East
Asia’s East campus in Singapore, works
amidst a construction site that promises
to become a yardstick for corporate
social responsibility.
“The context of corporate social
responsibility in Singapore is often
about environmental friendly buildings
and developments,” Dalziel explains.
“Our new campus building has already
been granted the Singapore Green Mark
Platinum Award for its eco-friendly,
energy efficient design.”

D

alziel is fast in adding
that social responsibility naturally means
much more than
making sustainable
choices regarding infrastructure.
Above all, social responsibility is
about leadership and organizational
culture.

“Social responsibility means that
every employee, regardless of his or
her role, has the potential to be innovative and make a lasting contribution
to the success of an organization. It is
a leadership choice, in which you will
get more synergy when you get people
involved in decision-making. Moreover,
this empowerment theory put in practice builds employee confidence in their
capacities,” Dalziel stresses.
“Take our university as an example.
At UWCSEA social responsibility means
welfare and the equal treatment of
people. Staff is not divided into teachers
and non-teaching staff, everyone is
treated as an equally valuable contributor to our organization.”
Shivakumar points out that Dalziel’s
empowerment theory applies to
Generation Y just as well as it does in
dealing with the iGeneration:
“In the end it is all about finding
ways to leverage strengths, like creativity
and new technologies. Kill the

‘efficiency mode’ when it is not
needed and leave some room for innovative thinking. Sometimes you have to
allow employees to fail; as a wise mind
has said: ‘Make mistakes earlier and
cheaper,’” Shivakumar quotes.
Talvinen concurs, yet points
attention to one final notion. As he sees
it, whatever the choice of leadership
theory; and wherever in the world
a company is, be it Europe, Asia,
the United States or elsewhere – one
of the key issues leaders of truly
global companies are facing is
shifting the focus from themselves to
the organization.
“Courage in leading people and organizations includes being a role model for
the whole organization, putting yourself
in line. For leaders, this means changing
the focus from ‘yourself’ to ‘us,’”
Talvinen concludes.
This final idea sums it up. Above all,
leadership in the age of iGeneration calls
for courage.

Dr. James Dalziel is the head of
the United World College of South
East Asia’s East campus in Singapore.
The Canadian born expatriate has been
teaching overseas for 12 years. He has been
involved in the International Baccalaureate
Organization and the Council of International
Schools as a workshop provider, conference
presenter, authorization team leader,
and member of the Regional Consultative
Committee. His doctorate, through the
University of Western Australia, focuses on
organizational change and leadership. Dalziel
is currently completing an EMBA through
Aalto University with a focus on innovation.

11

12

Feature 2
Brave
Organization

Who dares
to continue?
The road to success is an exploration
that draws its energy from courage.
Guy Kawasaki, Mikko Kosonen, Yves Doz
and Daniel H. Pink explain how to make
your organization brave.
Text: Satu Alavalkama, illustration: Dave Mathis

13

14

Daniel H. Pink

Leap into the unknown. In 1492, Christopher
Columbus demonstrated the courage of European
traders, sailing across the Atlantic to find a shortcut to
the treasure troves of India. Queen Isabella of Castile
and King Ferdinand of Aragon granted financial support
for the journey. Courage gave a competitive edge in
the battle for market leadership way back in medieval
Europe. Columbus’s three ships, Santa María, Niña
and Pinta, set sail towards unknown perils – just like
the organizations of the 2010s are doing today.
“A brave organization takes controlled risks. It continuously monitors its environment in a versatile and broadbased manner and systematically acquires information,”
explains Mikko Kosonen, DSc (Economics) and
President of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund.

Guy Kawasaki

Shutterstock

If

you’re thinking about establishing
a company, school, church ­– any
organization, really – check that
your goals include at least one of
the following three: to improve the
quality of people’s lives, to correct
a flaw or to preserve something good that has come under
threat. This will ensure that you’re building new meanings,
as well as enjoying your work,” says Guy Kawasaki,
author and founding partner of Garage Technology
Ventures, a consultancy firm.
According to California-based Kawasaki, the wish
to produce new meaning for people contains the seed of
a profitable business idea. Good products and revenues
will not come about if making money is the only reason
for a company’s existence.

“New ideas come about when foresight is
combined with intensive dialogue. Risks can
be further reduced with various types of trials
and experiments that test new ideas in practice.
Good experiments are then spread throughout
the company as quickly as possible.”
What kinds of leaps do the employees of
organizations dare take in their careers?
“You sometimes hear the joke that in the
United States, people’s esteem rises with the
number of bankruptcies they undergo. Put in
other words, it is a nation that values risktaking. That is an attitude we need more of in
Finland, too, instead of the tendency to point out
‘where you screwed up’. Some people are always
ready for new challenges, while others never
have a go. If the organization is taken over by a
‘do not rock the boat’ spirit, it risks coming to
a standstill.”
Yves Doz is Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation at INSEAD. According
to him, a brave organization identifies threats
and reacts accordingly.
“If you plan to succeed over a period
longer than five years, you can’t just brush
threats aside. You must act before the pain sets
in. If your work is what you want to do and you
believe in your success story, you no longer fear
failure. The common good is also a strong
incentive and protects your self-esteem better
than monetary wages.”
Daniel H. Pink, a Washingtonian author,

believes the world is such a tumultuous place
that it is strategically wiser to accept a certain
degree of uncertainty and ambiguity rather
than have a false sense of clarity and certainty.
“A brave organization is willing to challenge the status quo. If required, it can modify
assumptions and practices related to products,
services, the business idea, the structure of the
industry or, say, the treatment of customers and
employees,” says Pink.
In the words of Guy Kawasaki, a brave organization maintains high standards of ethics,
while also operating profitably.
“Develop products and services that others haven’t even imagined. Offer solutions that
your customers didn’t even know they needed.”
Fuzzy vision leaves room for
creativity. What Columbus had in mind was

to sail to India – meaning South and Southeast
Asia – by going west across the Atlantic Ocean.
Other seafarers thought his plan was insane,

For further information
http://www.danpink.com
http://www.guykawasaki.com
http://leadership.alltop.com/ and http://
innovation.alltop.com/.
Kawasaki’s works include
Enchantment and Reality Check
Pink has written, among other things,
Drive and A Whole New Mind
Kosonen & Doz: Fast Strategy

Yves Doz
Sami Kulju

Instinct and enthusiasm keep people on
the move. As the story goes, Columbus kept two separate

Mikko Kosonen

“A brave
organization
often has a
vision that
others do
not believe
possible.”

since ships back then could not be equipped for such a long
voyage. Columbus had a fuzzy vision of his goal, but no detailed
solutions for achieving it.
Mikko Kosonen lists the visions of Nokia (‘Life Goes
Mobile’) and KONE (‘Dedicated to People Flow’) as examples of business definitions that motivate people in the right
way. They give a meaningful direction to work, without
tying it too tightly to currently imaginable solutions.
“A brave organization often has a vision that others do
not believe to be possible,” says Kosonen.
According to Doz, organizations always have people
with a keen sense of the future.
“Everyone’s opinions should be taken into account.
Listening to subordinates does not erode the superior’s
authority in any way.”

logs of the distances covered: one for the crew and one,
the more accurate one, for himself. This helped to keep
the crew enthusiastic even though proof of reaching
the goal was long in coming: on the twenty-ninth day at sea,
the crew detected birds flying west and the ships changed
direction to reach land.
“A hazy goal is a mystery: it promises more than a clear
one does. However, it is never advisable to go ahead because
something ‘just feels right’. Enthusiasm is maintained by
continuously providing people with signs of and information about the distance to the goal. This can be challenging
at times, if no clear signs of progress are to be seen, and
puts the leader’s own faith to the test. Leaders, however,
must not show their own uncertainty,” says Kosonen.
Enthusiasm may also be synonymous with idealism:
Nokia wanted to show the world that Finns were top
professionals in technology. Yves Doz points out that a strong leader,
such as the founder of a company, can also be an important motivator.
According to Daniel H. Pink, a vision is born out of emotion, but
also out of reason.
“People decide where, how and why they work. What you need
first and foremost is a motivating goal that is best achieved together.”
Guy Kawasaki also believes in luck. “When drawing up a vision,
do not forget the instincts and enthusiasm of people. Luck is rarely
talked about in the open, but it has contributed to the success of
many good projects.”
Bloodless decisions. Columbus believed that the inhabitants

of the new continent could be peacefully converted to Christianity.
However, the acts of vandalism carried out by reckless Spanish
sailors led to disputes with the natives, and a nearly one-hundred
strong army of Indians attacked the expedition. The decision-maker’s
authority did not extend to his subordinates, who had not been
involved in making the decisions.
“Decisions affecting the future should be reached through
dialogue. A debate is useful only when enough facts and information
are available,” says Mikko Kosonen.
According to Kosonen, people who end up in decision-making
positions usually have above-average capabilities for the task.
“In some exceptional cases, you also come across nervous
decision-makers, who perform endless cross-checking. At times,
people are afraid not to make a decision or to postpone it.”
15

Yves Doz believes that old-boy networks stand in
the way of difficult decision-making.
“Who wants to be the scapegoat? We are often
too cautious and judgmental. Decision-making is
a process that should be improved as a whole without
getting stuck on individual results.”
In Daniel H. Pink’s opinion, the more employees
are allowed to make decisions – especially ones
affecting their own work – the braver the organization
becomes. Some decisions must still be made in
a top-down hierarchical manner.
“Good decisions can be made in many ways:
top-down or vice versa. There is no single right or
wrong way, only ways that either work or don’t for your
organization. It may take some effort, but eventually
you find your own way,” says Guy Kawasaki.
Job rotation brings refreshment. In January

Shutterstock

1493, Columbus left for his return trip. Back in Spain,
he was welcomed as a hero. Columbus brought back home
imprisoned natives, samples of gold, tobacco, pineapple,
turkey, hammock and chilli. Despite the rewards,
he did not bask long in the glory of his achievements, but
began planning a new voyage.
“People easily become defenders of old practices.
We need more challengers, who create new visions.
They can be found through job rotation and
by recruiting people from different cultures,” says
Mikko Kosonen.
Yves Doz considers job rotation to be a sign of trust
and freedom, both of which improve the results of work.
“In organizations, superiors have the power and
responsibility to transfer people so they remain alert.
Everyone fights in their own spot, and everyone is
looked after.”
Daniel H. Pink wonders why companies try to motivate people with monetary rewards, even though academic studies show they reduce creativity and weaken
performance. In his opinion, freedom, power of influence and interesting duties are the best incentives.

16

Passion
& Speed
into Valio’s
leadership
Finnish-based food products company Valio is looking to add passion
and speed to its leadership and product development through project
coaching across organizational borders.
In February 2011, Tuomas Salusjärvi, a research manager of
Valio’s starter products, will introduce the 23 other participants in
Valio’s Palo&Vauhti (“Passion&Speed”) Leadership Lab to a new snack,
which is once again expected to win over consumers with its typical
Finnish authenticity and delicious flavor. The development
of the delicacy benefits from ideas that the product group, marketing,
production and product development have jointly worked on during
the four-month training.
“All in all, this Lab is a fun way to work: it includes input on coaching
days, as well as bold little trials and tests at work, after which the best
ideas are adopted as new procedures,” he explains.
Salusjärvi began his work in the
Passion&Speed project by visiting
a Norwegian company considered
to be a good innovator as a part
of a five-member team. Interviews
were conducted at every level all
the way to senior management. Of special interest were the leadership
methods that had helped to spread the strong innovation approach
throughout the organization. Discussions gave rise to ideas that the
participants now apply in their own work and analyze to see what works.
History compels innovation. The markets for Valio’s products
are strongly competed, and new ideas are sought continuously. The
triumph of innovation started in 1945 with the Nobel-awarded AIV feed.
Among other things, Valio was the first to introduce probiotic products
containing lactic acid bacteria on the European market.
“I was happy to take part in the Passion&Speed project because of
the tough pressures on development in the Snacks, Cooking Products
and Jams unit, which I’m in charge of. Coaching is instructive and
useful, especially since it deals with very real product development
ideas,” says Sami Nupponen.
According to him, it is a great advantage that management as
a whole is committed to the project.
According to Eveliina Myllyluoma, R&D manager working in human
resources, the goal is to learn how to be an inspiring leader for oneself
and for other professionals working on the same task.
“The underlying theme is courage. It helps us renew our thinking
and take risks. To renew thinking, you need bold leadership, as well as
willingness to accept risk-taking and even failure,” says Myllyluoma.
“In Passion& Speed, we applied, for example, the See One, Do One,
Teach One learning principle familiar from the training of surgeons. In
this way, new insight into leadership can be transferred into practice,”
explains Leena Huotari, in charge of the procedures of Aalto Leadership
Lab at Aalto EE.

Feature 3
Brave
Feedback

FEEDBACK
IS DEAD.
Long live
FEEDBACK!
Boldly stepping into the unknown and wisely

second guessing every move. There is no
shame in making mistakes, the only shame
is striving for perfection or expecting it from
others. Gone are the days when criticism
and praise were saved for last. For brave
organizations, feedback in its traditional
sense is dead! >
Text: Joanna sinclair, pHOTO: gETTY IMAGES

17

“You need to be the
first to come out and
admit mistakes.”

If

you wait until a project
is finished to offer
criticism – even
constructive criticism –
you are the one to blame,
not the person whose
efforts you feel did not
meet expectations. Should you wait to the end to
offer your first bit of praise, you may find that a great
idea has only led to mediocre results, as people were
unsure as to what direction they should take.
Yes, feedback in some respects is dead, yet it
has also gone nowhere. Feedback, the phoenix of
organizational communication, has simply reborn in
a new and improved form.
Instant, constant, real-time. As American
author and acclaimed management expert Ken
Blanchard cunningly put it, feedback is the breakfast of champions. Although still a staple, something
interesting has happened to the contents of
this course.
Business founder, advisor, CEO, and many others
Marko Parkkinen has so many titles his business
card has two spinning wheels that you can rotate and
mix-and-match his various endeavors with titles.
Internationally recognized as a new-business expert,
perhaps Parkkinen can shed light on the secrets
of feedback.

Want to learn the hostile way of
feedback? www.angrybirds.com

18

Feedback today is
given at every stage
of work imaginable.
Transparent group work,
bouncing ideas inside
social media, open innovation and crowdsourcing
– or just open offices
and peers watching over
your shoulder... Put it
all together and you will
find that the majority of
issues we work with are
available for feedback
all the time. Wise businesses make the most
of this. Why wait for
a customer’s reaction
to the ready product
when you can give him
a prototype to play with?
Better yet, have the customer screen initial ideas
of prototypes before
even constructing them.

“It’s about being brave enough to set things
up so that you never need to wait for feedback,”
Parkkinen starts.
“You need to be the first to come out and admit
mistakes. Transparency and honesty are not only
refreshing; in my mind, they mark winners. It takes
guts and shows character to admit you made a mistake
and not wait to see if someone picks up on it.”
Even more importantly, you need to be brave
enough to try out new things every day and set up
constant measurement and feedback systems, so you
can acquire detailed information on an hourly basis
if needed. “Data that shows trends, continual dialogue
with your stakeholders, ongoing service and product
development directly with your customers – these
are the hallmarks of successfully making the most of
feedback.”
TBWA Diego’s strategy manager, author and
public speaker, former digital media researcher
Sami Viitamäki is the ideal sparring partner for these
ideas. As is often the case when speaking to people
on the very cutting edge of ideas, Viitamäki largely
concurs with Parkkinen.
As Viitamäki explains, operating in a manner that
allows constant feedback requires transparency, and
transparency takes incredible courage. Yet organizations better get used to it – in the digital era, secrets
are even more obsolete than traditional feedback.
There are no secrets kept, just less known stories
waiting for exposure on YouTube, Twitter or the likes.
“An ideal modern company is capable of strategic
learning each and every day,” Viitamäki points out.
“Achieving this requires fulfilling at least three
prerequisites: first, employees need to have real-time
visibility to the company’s performance; second, some
level of power over decisions that influence performance; and third, a reward system to support this kind
of pre-emptive, agile culture.”
Parkkinen and Viitamäki link measurement
closely to feedback. It seems either should not – or
indeed cannot – be discussed without the other?
Thus, the logical next step is to visit IBM. As rumor
has it, they are in the know.

Question your questions and weigh
your measures. International Business Machines,

IBM. The three letters spell sustainable success all
over the world. The global leader is known for being
rather meticulous when it comes to measuring
the success rate of its innovation projects. They are
keeping a close eye on the figures – to ensure that
there are enough failures.
As IBM sees it, if their success rate is too high, it
would indicate that they were playing it safe and not
being brave enough to try anything radical. In IBM
philosophy, taking things to the next level necessitates
a culture where failure is a welcome, natural part
of things, providing useful stepping stones on the
learning curve.
IBM Business Analytics Solution Executive
Juha Teljo is known as a crowd-pleasing speaker who
makes complex constructs sound easy. His take on
measurement and feedback is much in line with what
Viitamäki and Parkkinen have brought forth.
“In my line of business, three things have become
quintessential. First, business must appreciate that
data is worthless. All value lies in the questions we
pose to data; they can be priceless,” Teljo begins.
“Searching hard to find new questions, reaching
out to networks and social media to find new ideas
for questions to make, this is the first prerequisite
for those organizations aiming to survive over
the long haul.”
Second, if last years worst-case-scenario suddenly becomes the highest hope you could aspire to reach,
you need to be in a position to react and change course
well before the storm hits full force. It is all about
foresight. Teljo’s next affirmation is best explained
with an age-old hockey quote.
Follow the reasoning of Wayne Gretzky’s father
Walter. “One should skate to where the puck is going
to be, not where it is. Foresight is the foremost talent
for any organization in our day and age.”
The problem with foresight is that organizations
fear it, says Teijo. The thing is that all information
regarding the future is always fundamentally wrong.
“Of course it is! Yet as it happens, it is also often times
darn useful. Getting over the fear of failure, the fear
of fuzzy or incorrect information is liberating and
tremendously useful. It enables us to predict and take
affirmative actions.”

“React to
feedback before
it becomes
feedback.”
Pursuing perfection
is the aspiration of
the timid. Wildly
jumping into the
unknown are acts of
dare devil endeavors.
Champions take
adventurous risks all
the time – and monitor
the effect with clocklike precision, endless,
constant feedback
and the vigilance to
change course at
any time.

19

“Brave
organizations
empower their
staff to act.”
Time is of essence. As a third point, Teljo brings
to attention the ever-timely question of timeliness.
“Brave organizations empower their staff to act.
They have a culture where people know that they
are trusted to take care of things in the best interest
of the customer; to react to feedback before it becomes
feedback.”
He gives the example of an internet provider
serving small businesses. During a staff meeting, they
noticed a pillar rising up swiftly on their display monitoring incoming service calls. In moments, the staff
was able to indicate that all calls were coming from
the same area where a server had gone down. They
produced a real-time response to the problem by
recording a new message to be played to callers waiting in line. The message stated that the problem has
been identified and should be fixed within 30 minutes.
“They got the new message rolling and then sat
back and watched the pillar of incoming calls drop
in front of their eyes. The problem was fixed well
before the given half hour was done, but what is more,
potential customer dissatisfaction was neutralized
or perhaps even turned into a positive experience of
being served well,” Teljo points out.
Teljo’s story encompasses one of the key insights
of feedback today: making sure it is never received
regarding things that should perform like clockwork.
Viitamäki uses online-shoe outfit Zappos as an
example of a company that has took this notion to
new heights.
Zappos core competence is customer service and
logistics. “Their business runs around eliminating
negative feedback and making sure everyone is always
tremendously happy with their service. Each and
every member of the personnel has full executive
power to make sure this happens,” Viitamäki explains.

20

Is
anybody
out
there?
Working in
the realm of
constant idea
reassessment
Celebrating success
or serendipitous failures
after a project is finished
is a practice naturally
still alive and well.
But even there,
the nature of feedback
has changed.
The essence of the
upcoming feedback
should never be a
surprise to teams who
have been encouraged
and directed by a strong
leader – or, in the case
of open innovation,
each other – all
through the way.

“You did not like your shoes? We’ll send a new
pair over by taxi right away... The shoes you bought
nine months ago broke? We have them in stock,
you will have a new pair home delivered free of charge
within 24 hours.” This sort of service is everyday
there, says Viitamäki, which is why even the mighty
Amazon could not compete with Zappos and ended up
buying the firm for $928 million in 2009.
Indisputably, word-of-mouth matters in a world
where each individual voice has an average of 130
Facebook friends. The opportunities for brave
organizations are vast, if they know how to maneuver
their way in the digital era. In our new era, freedom
of speech has turned into the freedom to Tweet.
Parkkinen pulls together the do’s and don’ts of bravely
making the most of modern day feedback.
• Be brave enough to fail – and hurry up
to tell everyone about it before they have
a chance to tell you or others.
• Don’t forget to keep one eye on the rearview
mirror. Learn from the mistakes so you never
need to get the same negative feedback twice.
• Raise your level of trying new things five
fold – not five percent, but five fold
– and actively ask for feedback on them.

June 2006. Wired.com. Jeff Howe. Ring any bells? If you are
working in the field of innovation, R&D, marketing, HR or most any field
relating to people and ideas, you already know what this side story is about.
Rarely has any term gained such large spread recognition, enthusiasm
The most challenging part of crowdand hype as crowdsourcing, coined by Howe in his article some four-and-asourcing comes after the crowd has given
half-years back.
its share: harvesting the vast field of ideas
Howe quoted then MIT, now Harvard-based Karim Lakhani, whose study
produced by the group, and providing partishowed that the odds of a problem solver’s success increased in fields
cipants with feedback and possible rewards.
where they had no formal expertise. He pinpointed a notion from the heart
By harvesting, Erkinheimo means
of Granovetter and network theory: the most efficient
combining artificial
networks are those that link to the broadest range of
intelligence and statistical
information, knowledge, and experience. Most of all,
methods – neuro networks
Howe brought attention to the large-scale business
paired with cluster and
benefits crowdsourcing could offer.
regression analyses – to
Everybody wanted their share. By the time the
make sense of the vast
Financial Times newspaper shortlisted Don Tapscott
amount of ideas crowd1_ Having a purpose
and Anthony D. Williams’s title Wikinomics for its
sourcing produces. These
2_ Finding a business sponsor
business book of the year award in 2008, it was
methods are already in use,
apparent that a new way of organizing work was
but new research would
3_ Having a humble outlook:
about to change things forever.
be more than welcome,
you must be humble enough to
Great success stories occurred inspired by
the Nokia crowdsourcing
realize that there might be
pioneering paramount Open Innovation ventures
someone out there who has better head points out.
such as Linux, yet less remarkable efforts dominated
Still borrowing from the
ideas on the subject than you do!
the field for some time. In the early days of 2011,
agricultural metaphors, after
4_ Selecting an appropriate
crowdsourcing is miles apart from where it was
harvesting it is time to feast.
crowd internally or externally
a few years back.
In crowdsourcing, this means
“Crowdsourcing is in the junction of open
feedback, rewards or both.
5_ Understanding your crowd
innovation and social media paradigms. It is no
“Should you use monetary
and finding the right ways to
longer hype, it’s an established and effective way of
rewards?
It depends on
motivate participation
working and bringing together the best talent from
the task. Sometimes money is
all corners of the earth,” affirms Pia Erkinheimo,
6_ Setting a straightforward, a great way to raise interest
understandable task
head of Nokia’s Global Crowdsourcing.
and acts as a good motivator.
and putting people to work
Nokia has used the method to great effect. Their
At other times, offering money
Open Innovation Africa Summit, sponsored and ran
be pointless, and
7_ Facilitating the process, giving would
together with the World Bank and Capgemini, is
even inappropriate.”
feedback, monitoring progress
looking to explore Africa’s innovation ecosystem. An
You need to know and
ideation platform was opened as a crowdsourcing
understand
your crowd
8_ Harvest and feast: harvesting
venture prior to the summit, aspiring to bring people
and
their
driving
forces.
the pool of ideas, then providing
participants with feedback
together and empower their joint innovation.
Feedback, peer support
and possible awards
The foremost contributors were invited to join the
– and, in certain tasks,
summit in Nairobi Kenya during November 2010.
rewards – form a crucial part
Nokia is doing its share to help the planet. Yet, as
of crowdsourcing. The best
with any listed company, commercial examples naturally outweigh pro-bono
case scenarios are naturally those in which
ones. Thus often times Nokia’s crowdsourcing ventures are internal.
ideas created with crowdsourcing become
“Worldwide, we have over 30,000 professionals in positions where they
a reality in one form or another. “That is
can easily access the web during working hours. Handpicked, trained Nokia
the best reward a participant can get!”
professionals. Naturally, they are often my best bet when I am selecting
Erkinheimo explains.
a crowd,” Erkinheimo points out.
“Crowdsourcing is already of great
advantage to us, yet I feel that so far we
have only scratched the surface of all its
Harvesting with a purpose. Selecting a crowd is one of the foremost
potentials. In the last two years, we gathered
cornerstones of successful crowdsourcing, but in Erkinheimo’s mind, it does
ideas and feedback for certain parts of our
not come first. Above all, crowdsourcing must have a purpose. Without one,
strategy through crowdsourcing. Challenging
you cannot expect any crowd to show enthusiasm.
the status quo by crowdsourcing our entire
strategy is not that distant of an idea.”

Eight steps to
crowdsourcing

22
23
24

Next:

25

Personal
courage
Bravery is doing what needs to be done in the face
of fear. When everyone else fails, the economy is broken
and all the odds seem against you, your time has come!

Text: minna valtari

Personal
courage
and being
present
“The ability to know what is fair and to apply this knowledge
despite fierce opposition and possible harm is certainly a quality
that fits the definition of courage,” says Ben Nothnagel, a lawyer
and lecturer in global executive education programs. “Courage
has different faces. There’s the courage that Nelson Mandela
clearly has, the courage that requires great personal strength to
fight injustice. There is also the type of courage that is required
from us to understand, face and overcome the challenges in our
personal and professional lives.”
Fast changing business practices around the world clearly
require a new set of business skills and possibly a different
mindset that includes deeper insight into cultures and business
models. “Facing the challenges to remain relevant in this
fast-changing business environment requires a new mindset
of courage,” Nothnagel says. “A mindset that will allow you to
evaluate your existing competencies and acquire or develop the
competencies required to remain relevant in the market place.”
Nothnagel believes that one big challenge many of us will face
is to remain employed in a world that probably will require very

Personal

different skills than most of us are formally
trained to have. This especially concerns
those of us who are over 40 years old.
“One of the most courageous actions,
in my opinion, is to look outside your comfort
zone and ask yourself if your actions are
supporting your ambition, potential and
the results you want to achieve.”
Our internal voices of pessimism and fear lead to a mindset
that is more prone to avoid action or to criticize the solutions
of others rather than to seek durable solutions ourselves.
“To change your mindset doesn’t mean that you have to
change you. You will probably only have to make a few
adjustments,” Nothnagel reminds. “An easy way to change is
to look at what alternatives you have to fulfill your potential
and ambition. Being brave or courageous can be learned!”
Having an optimistic outlook together with an attitude
that invites solution building is the type of courage we need
to succeed. “Those of us that are really present in our dayto-day activities are more aware of the challenges that we are
faced with and of the possibilities and solutions available.
Being present takes courage, but is absolutely vital.”
Courage starts with you evaluating if your behavior is
contributing to the life you want to live, feels Nothnagel. If
the answer is no, then you have to be brave and create new
pathways that will provide you with the attitude, competence or
behavior that will support who you are or want to be. “Having
the courage to re-invent yourself to meet the personal and
professional demands of a changing world almost always has
the additional payoff of contributing to your enjoyment of life!”

How to
be
a bold
young
manager
Ben Nothnagel, a visiting trainer at
Aalto EE, gives a handful of advice for
young managers. He sees courage
as a combination of the following:
• discipline to turn
knowledge into insight
• ability to turn insight into
goals or visions
• confidence to communicate
the vision to decision makers
• commitment to drive the acceptance
of their ideas in their organizations

“I say this because
it takes great
courage to face a
changing, complex
world with little
experience.
Turning knowledge
into insight by
networking with
other professionals
often requires us to
leave our comfort
zones.”

3
Failure
is good

“Courage
is going
from failure
to failure
without losing
enthusiasm.”

- Winston Churchill

On the road to success,
most of us will endure
at least one failure.
The important part
is to get up after you
fail and try again.
Failure merely brings
you closer to eventual
success. Rather than
fearing failures and letting the fear prevent
you from trying, consider failures as learning
experiences. Learning how to fail is almost
a requirement for eventually becoming
successful. Don’t fear to fail today – it helps
you to succeed tomorrow!

You can use Toolbox materials at work, to link
with your blog, when giving a presentation –
or forward it to colleagues. The background ideas
are available in a variety of web sources.

Keep
your
goals to
yourself
After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first
instinct is to tell someone, but Derek Sivers says
it’s better to keep goals secret. He presents
research stretching as far back as the 1920s to
show why people who talk about their ambitions
may be less likely to achieve them.
This idea can be adapted into a practical
example. If you have a good business idea, you
should first share it with people you trust who
come from different backgrounds but support
your idea. In this way, the idea can be developed
further before it is presented. If you start
presenting your idea too early and others put
it down, you won’t be able to develop it further,
since the idea is already doomed.

4

See more at
http://www.ted.com/talks/
derek_sivers_keep_your_
goals_to_yourself.html

In slides:
www.slideshare.net
In pdf-format:
www.scribd.com

The whole
magazine:
www.issuu.com

23

Courage
to say
uncertain
issues out
loud

6

Sudhanshu Palsule, an award-winning
educator, consultant and leadership coach,
regarded as one of the leading thinkers in
the field of Transformative Leadership.

Personal

Kitti
St udio Pe tt eri

“If you don’t know who
you are and where you
are going, running faster
won’t get you there.
Moreover, you’ll find
yourself running alone.”

“I have always been interested in what happens in the world
and it has lead me to work with several projects that deal with
the changes in urban life,” says Asko Ahokas, a consultant based
in New York City who provides visionary trend forecasting, media
and communications services. “We forecast how
the world will change in short term, in the next
season, or in longer term, say in ten years.”
Ahokas admits that it takes courage, especially
when you are new in the field, to forecast the
future when your work will highly affect your
client. As a well-known and inspirational lecturer
for more than ten years, he is able to translate
emerging trends in the consumer market into
an insightful and value-adding vision.
“I consider it important to get closer to the
fear and the uncertainty because the topics that
are uncertain and that increase fear are usually
related to new developments and future trends,”
Ahokas comments. “We often learn a lot when we
approach new topics and
www.askoahokas.com
are able to gain vision and
Based in New York, Asko Ahokas
insight into the future.”
provides trend forecasting and
He says that being
communications services to a
continuously expanding roster of
courageous often feels like
international clients.
you were jumping into the
dark. “Going abroad can be a moment when you
learn the most of yourself because a lot of things
might change when you see them from a different
point of view. Learning more about the unknown
is interesting. Forecasting future is not easy
but when you gain experience, you begin to
notice the changes.”

How to keep your cool
in any situation so that
you can make the best
decisions possible?

Why is it
difficult to
focus?

How to maximize your
chance of finding insights
that can solve seemingly
insurmountable
problems?

rate
o
b
a
l
l
ly?
to co
How e effective
mor

Why does your
brain feel so
taxed?

7
How to maximize
your mental
resources?

David Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book
Your Brain at
Work provides
answers to these
questions:
David Rock: Your Brain at Work:
Strategies for Overcoming
Distraction, Regaining Focus,
and Working Smarter All Day Long
(HarperBusiness, 2009)

Why providing
feedback is so difficult
and how to make it
easier?

DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Riverhead Hardcover, 2009) by Daniel H. Pink

What truly
motivates us?
And how we
can use that
knowledge to
work smarter
and live better?

Way too often external rewards, like money, are seen as
the best way to motivate people, but that is not true, claims
Daniel H. Pink. His provocative and persuasive book Drive
concludes that the secret to high performance and satisfaction
is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and
create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
The mismatch between what science knows and what
business does is exposed openly by Pink. He demonstrates
that while carrots and sticks worked successfully in the twentieth
century, this is precisely the wrong way to motivate people
for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges.

25

Follow
Aalto EE

Jari Talvinen has been appointed managing director of the Singapore subsidiary of Aalto EE, Aalto Executive
Education Academy Pte Ltd. He was selected for the post among 132
applicants. Talvinen (49) has a PhD in economics and has previously
worked for IBM, CapMan, Ericsson and Nokia, and as a business consultant for PwC. Since 1991, he has also worked at the Aalto University
School of Economics, first as a full-time and later as a part-time instructor. Talvinen currently works as docent in information systems science,
specializing in customer relationships management.
Talvinen got interested in Aalto University around a year ago when he
attended the university’s academic year opening ceremony. One of his main
goals is to make the Aalto brand better known among target companies.
“We must first clarify Aalto EE’s offering and the added value that Aalto
University produces for target companies and their people,” he stresses.
“In the following phase, we will offer increasingly better content in both
EMBA programs and customized training. Our third goal is to expand our
operations in the target regions, such as China. This also includes stronger cooperation with prominent local schools.”
Asia is an enticing market for the new managing director. “The region
already has many emerging economies and more are coming. China and
India are familiar names, but Indonesia and Vietnam are following hot
on their heels.”
Talvinen considers Singapore to be a great hub for all of Asia. It is an
interesting, attractive and wealthy country that invests strongly in innovation, education and people, as well as in the utilization of technology.
“All this is a good match with Aalto University’s focal areas. Aalto EE
is a challenger in Asia. We are a small player, which is why we must make
our own offering crystal-clear and of such high quality that we stand out
of our competitors. It isn’t difficult but calls for hard work and courage.”

In
addition
Find out the latest
happenings at
Aalto EE: www.
aaltoee.fi

26

to lots of other
points of interest,
Aalto EE’s Facebook
page includes
photos.

Dive into
Profile’s
blog:
aaltoee.
blogspot.
com

Aalto EE
accelerates

update

Text: Lotta Vaija

update

Clear
objective
and hard
work

Text: Heli Satuli

more updated information
www.aaltoee.fi, www.aaltoee.sg

In ten years time, Aalto EE will be one of
the best executive education providers in Europe
– known for its quality, innovativeness and courage.
And according to the chairman of the board,
Professor Teemu Malmi, Aalto EE has the means
in place to ensure this vision turns into reality.
“The key words are Aalto community and
global partnerships,” opens Malmi. “We will now
focus on establishing ourselves as strong productive partner in Europe and actively build partnerships in Russia and in Asia – especially in China.
Growth in Asia is a great possibility for us.”
As far as innovativeness and courage is
concerned, the main ingredients of Aalto EE’s
recipe for success are people, pedagogies and
education programs.
“Aalto EE aims for a unique offering in way we
make people and organizations learn. For example,
our Leadership Lab is established to ignite those
precious aha-moments,” Malmi explains.
One example of an innovative course that
Aalto EE is currently offering is International
Design Business Management. This is an area in
which Finland is indisputably one of the global
leaders. And an area in which Aalto and Aalto EE
possess unique multidisciplinary expertise
that cuts across the areas of business, design
and technology.
“We are already stronger than our size
suggests. But with our new additional resources
the future looks indeed appealing for Aalto EE.”

HiSTORY
LESSO N

Not everything is
measurable – even in business.

Text: Joe White

Predicting chaos

Chaos theory is readily understood today. But in its heyday, the proponents
risked everything to prove they were correct.
It was already apparent by the twentieth century that
reliable old Newtonian physics was no longer subtle
enough to answer all our questions. The very instruments
developed on the back of the great man’s work were
becoming sophisticated enough to reveal tiny anomalies
in the universe that refused to respond to linear physics.
Einstein and his relativities – Schroedinger and his cats
– Heisenberg and his uncertainty principles – were
blowing holes in the ability of conventional science to
predict all events, or even entirely describe them.
Such men, Newton included, represent a heroic
lineage of scientists who have courageously stuck to their
guns to defend a revolutionary notion against ridicule,
disgrace or even worse.
Not everything responds to
mathematics. By the 1960s it was
clear that the real world, whatever
that is, would not respond to the
mathematicians’ urgings, fixes
and certainties. Gathering more
data was not helping; it merely opened up more questions.
More to study and evaluate.
And, anyway, the same data
often behaved differently in different circumstances. Tiny events were upsetting bigger patterns. Fluttering
butterflies in Brazil were stirring
typhoons in Tokyo.
Weather forecasting, in fact,
was providing telling examples of the
chaos in our universe. No matter how
much you knew about an approaching
warm front, you could never exactly
predict how that might translate into
rain on your crops – or on your summer
holiday. Things don’t operate in cosy linear patterns that make life simple for
mathematicians. Perfectly stable
systems like icebergs can suddenly sheer
and shatter; earthquakes may follow long
periods of quiet with a sudden catastrophic
shudder and horrendous loss of life.

We might call such events fate, but by the early 1960s,
scientists were looking at what was to be called chaos, the
state where things are not behaving in the same way as
the events next to them. Turbulence, thawed areas of an
iceberg, a flame exist in domains of chaos. Researchers
became intrigued and slowly began to peel back the layers
that concealed this hidden monster this chaotic behavior
often within the very heart of apparently stable systems.
Persisting even through criticism. Many
scientists were offended by the students of chaos; even
calling them irreverent, for surely everything can be
measured, tested and ultimately explained. Yet these
upstarts were suggesting that this might not always be true.
If science could not predict, then what good was it apart
from supplying fancy descriptions?
But the chaos theory advocates persisted. One
even published a major work in the magazine he
was editing – against all the accepted protocols
– but he was convinced his work was too
important to ignore. Fortunately for him
– and science – he was right.
The list of courageous inquirers
extends down the millenia – many have
suffered death or other hideous
privations in the pursuit of what they
deemed to be the truth.
Chaos is now an accepted
realm of study, but its early
advocates are among
the latest who risked not
death, perhaps, but at least
career suicide, ignominy
and ridicule to make it so.
Of course, when you’re
in the business of taking
risks and being brave, it does
help to be right.
www.south-pole.com
Read about Roald Amundsen’s
incredible journey to the Antarctic,
where the ability to feresee the
future would have been useful.

27

Feed the spirit,
be a new wave
leader.
Aalto University
Executive Education

Grow into a new wave leader. Build success
by freeing the full potential of individuals and
organizations. See the familiar through fresh
eyes, discover opportunities in the unknown,
navigate changes fearlessly.

We help you find new capabilities and solutions
– answers to the big questions. You contribute
your experience and personality. We contribute
Aalto University’s uniquely multidisciplinary
knowledge, our ability to apply theory to practice, our global expertise and network, and
our inspirational learning methods. Together
we create breakthroughs for you and your
company.

We offer customized solutions to support
companies’ strategic goals, open programs
– such as the MBA, Executive MBA and JOKO
programs – and leadership forums. They all
provide the fresh competencies you need to
lead.